The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

A Rock, A Hard Place, and a Monster

[Sophia]

"What?" I said blankly.

"He was taken away by some big creature!" they both said in unison.

"You mean he was kidnapped?"

"He tried to fight it off," Fleetfoot started.

"But he couldn't escape it and it dragged him away!" Flyboy concluded.

"Why didn't you go after him?"

"The ground caught fire and we couldn't get away from it!"

I didn't know how to react. I just had a stunned look on my face. Both stunned from shock and confusion.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" the Twins suggested.

"Yeah, you're right." I said, trying to snap out of my confusion.

"Uh- do you remember which way he went?" I asked.

The Twins looked around, trying to remember where they saw Apollo being dragged away.

"Wait, over here!" the Twins pointed something out and trotted over to it. I followed them and looked over to see what they found. I didn't spot it at first, but as I looked closer I could see there was a tiny puddle of black ink that almost blended in with the charred ground.

"Apollo must've wounded it," the Twins pointed out. By then I already knew where this would go. If this was here, then there had to be a trail of some sort that would lead us to wherever Apollo was dragged off too. I took a step forward to see if there was anymore inky puddles. To our luck, there was. Small ones.

"Here! This way, there's a trail!" I directed. The Twins followed me closely as I followed the trail. Soon, it started to spread out and we started off into a jog as I looked around for more black puddles. Soon, the trail was starting to wear thin and I was starting to panic a little. Mostly out of pure confusion, because I was still processing the information the Twins said to me about two minutes ago.

"Hey Sophie?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you put the fire out?" Flyboy asked.

"Oh... uh- I'll explain later." I stammered. I turned my head forward and continued following the trail. Until I couldn't see anymore ink puddles to follow. I looked around frantically, feet covered in burnt ground and grass, but there was nothing. It ended here.

"Augh, where'd it go?" I said to myself, frustrated. I kept looking around, trying to see if there was any other sign of tracks or anything the creature had to have left behind. Until Fleetfoot came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder, making me tense up.

"Sophie, wait." he stopped me and I looked behind me to listen to them. But they didn't explain themselves. They both stared off into the distance, eyes darting around, and I swear I thought I saw their ears twitch.

"Quick, this way." they whispered to me and started running away from me. I quickly followed behind them, tired from running already. We flew through trees and jumped over hedges and climbed over rocks. Until I heard something thundering in the distance and we all stopped to listen. And we heard a fierce cry that followed shortly afterward. And then we all started running again, ears open, and climbing through the forest as fast as we could. (I was sort of lagging behind a bit because running through the forest while your barefoot isn't as nice as it sounds.) We knew we were getting closer when the sounds and screaming became louder.

We started to climb up a hill and we were stunned to see the scene before us.

The creature with skinny hind legs and red spiraling eyes was digging furiously at the ground. I crawled forward, trying to be quiet, but also trying to get a better look. A huge tree had fallen on top of a few boulders and trapped between the two was Apollo, trying to duck and hide himself in the ditch he was in.

He was trapped.

I didn't realize that I had stood up, fight or flight instincts taking over me. And I think that was what alerted the monster to come for us, because I think Apollo spotted me and the creature recognized that look and turned around. It roared loudly and started charging for us. And without thinking, I opened my wings and shot straight up into the air and the Twins followed behind me just as Apollo called out to us.

But I didn't look before I leaped and I flew straight up and my head hit a tree branch and I tumbled downwards as the Twins scrambled upwards, trying not to get stuck and avoiding the same mistake I made. As I fell, I was lucky enough to catch myself on another, thicker branch. Until the tree suddenly shook before me and I gripped the branch tightly. The monster was trying to climb the tree and drag me down. I scrambled to pull myself up in a state of panic and fear. And the monster below me scratched and howled, making it harder for me to climb.

I'm pretty good at tree climbing, and I even enjoy it. But this... no, this wasn't fun at all. In fact, this is even worse when you're just trying to sit on a branch but your friend climbing below you is shaking the tree and it makes you feel like your about to fall off.

So you might understand how terrifying this situation is already.

I just kept climbing higher and higher, until I heard the Twins call my name and I looked over to them. They were safe, and I was still trying to catch my breath from the surprise attack. I looked over to where Apollo was. With the monster away from him, he could've climbed out by now. But he wasn't looking at me. He was frantically trying to pull himself free on the tree or push himself away from the rocks. I reached up to a higher branch and pulled myself to my feet.

I think he was stuck.

The creature struck the tree again, making me loose my footing and I slipped, but I was able to hang on and swing myself back around.

"Sophie, what should we do?" the Twins called out to me. I stared at them, trying to think of an answer. Still trying to process what just happened. Heart pounding in my chest, my hair still damp, falling in front of my face, and the outfit that Teri gave me was sticking to me arms and legs and were making my bag slightly wet on the sides. I looked up and around, trying to calm down. Trying to think of something, anything.

"Sophie!!" Apollo called out to me. And suddenly the tree stopped shaking, the creature as black as shadow, turned its attention back to Apollo and he suddenly ducked again and sunk back out of my view. I took one more look of him, before finally snapping out of my panic-state mind.

"Guys!"

"Yeah?" the Twins looked up at me.

"I have an idea! You two, go over there and create a distraction! Keep it away from Apollo until I can get him out!" I said quickly. The Twins suddenly looked at me in surprise.

"Are you sure about this?"

I didn't know how to respond to that, so all I said was, "It's okay, I've got you! Just keep it distracted until I get him out!" I yelled with a half smile, trying to make it reassuring to them. The Twins looked down at the creature, at me, and at themselves. Before giving me a confirming head nod and started climbing down the tree carefully.

I wasn't sure if that was the right answer to give them, but I really couldn't think of anything else to say to them. I wish I did say something a little more encouraging. But if I did, then I'd be stuck in that tree all day. I'm not very good at encouraging people anyway.

I carefully took my hand off the branch and took my bag off and hung it over the branch above me. I pulled off the blouse that I had still been wearing. It was a little slippery because it was still damp, but I was able to carefully tie it around my waist. I was still wearing my swimsuit top underneath it and put my bag over my shoulders again and started climbing down until I had a safe opening.

The Twins slid down the hill and picked up the heaviest projectile they could find. Which was a large, broken tree branch and a heavy rock. They both made perfect throws and called the monster to their attention.

"Over here!" Fleetfoot yelled.

"Come over here! Over here!" Flyboy chanted. The monster turned it's head and Fleetfoot threw another smaller rock at it's face and it roared back at them. They dropped whatever else they were gonna throw and dodged out of the way as the creature ran right towards them, just avoiding it's jaws. They split up and it followed Flyboy as he ran right past the tree I was hiding in and slid down the hill. Fleetfoot was just parallel of him and quickly dragged him to safety to the side and the creature skidded towards them.

As soon as the monster was behind me, I waited no longer. I jumped forward and extended my wings and glided safely to Apollo's side. He gasped as he spotted me and immediately hugged me as soon as I landed.

"Sophie, I'm stuck! My foot..."

I quickly looked behind him and saw what he was talking about. His foot was caught between the ground and the rocks on top of him. The ditch he was in made it harder for him to climb out of.

"Okay, hold on, man. I got you!" I reassured him. I climbed behind him and started digging in the dirt where his foot was caught in. He turned around to the best of his abilities and started digging with me.

"Are you okay?" I asked. (Though I probably should've asked him that in the first place.)

"Yeah-yeah, I'm fine." he replied. His voice was shaky, I could tell. And I didn't blame him. My heart was still pounding and everything was happening way too fast for me to process. I hardly understood what I was even doing. I just knew I had to do it fast.

The dirt we were digging in was becoming more coarse and rough and it was more difficult to dig in. It was kinda starting to hurt actually. But the more Apollo shook his foot, the more it was starting to get free.

"Here, pull me up."

I moved out of the way and grabbed Apollo's arms and pulled him with all my strength. He fell on top of me as his foot came loose and we scrambled to get up and out. Until he screamed and pulled my head down as the creature came back and tried to take a bite out of my head. We both ducked back into the ditch and tried to avoid the attacks of the monster. There was no way for us to escape.

The monster dug in the ground again and it pulled a rock along with it and as it did, Apollo put his hand down on the ground and it started to turn pale. I kept my head up, preparing for more incoming attacks. The ground below us began to turn to frost and the air in front of us turned cold as Apollo began freezing the ground. (I wasn't sure if it was intentional or it was just fear.) When the monster struck again, it's arm hit the ground and it got stuck in the ice. Its arm started growing frost and started frantically pawing at it, trying to get free. Seeing this as a new chance, I quickly reached into my bag and drew my crystal sword, slicing away at its arm. It came clean off in one swing. The monster howled and jumped back in pain as some sort of black ooze began dripping from the wound. I grabbed Apollo's arm with my free arm and tried to pull us out, but as the monster came back down it took a blow against me and this time I couldn't get away. It scratched my face with such force that I pulled Apollo with me and we went tumbling out of the ditch. I went flying further than him and I struggled with the pain, trying to get up and trying to process what just happened. I was stunned.

Suddenly the monster came up before Apollo could reach my side, it scooped him up in it's jaws again and I heard him scream. But from where I landed I couldn't tell if the monster had actually sunk its teeth into him. Whether it did or not, my head snapped towards him and I pushed myself up. Just as the monster turned away with Apollo, he reached out to me and I quickly grabbed his hand and held it tight. Of course, the monster was no match for me and with Apollo's strong grip, it pulled me with them. It leaped over the fallen tree and my legs scratched against it. And when it landed my hand slipped and I landed face first in the dirt. Unable to get up in time, I continued to hear Apollo's feared cries for help and the monster dragging him away.